An Evolutionary Gap
by Sadie
Summary: [Complete] “And you can’t stop yourself from touching extraterrestrial goo!” retorted the Colonel. Daniel didn’t correct Jack. “The goo touched me!” didn’t seem like a good counterargument.
1. A Giant Pond of Green Jello

AN EVOLUTIONARY GAP

By: Sadie

Category: Action Adventure/Romance

Couple(s): Daniel/Janet, Sam/Jack

Season: Seven (pre-Heroes)

Spoilers: Everything up to season seven is at risk.

Disclaimer: Because Showtime/Viacom, Sci-Fi Channel US, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions owns Stargate and I don't. Yet. Bahahahahaha.

Summary: _"And you can't stop yourself from touching extraterrestrial goo!" retorted the Colonel. Daniel didn't correct Jack. "The goo touched me!" didn't seem like a good counter-argument._

Authors Note: First off a huge THANKS (and a fruit basket... do you want a fruit basket?) for Mara Jade Jedi and Caitlin for betaing this first chapter for me. Also, I'd thought I'd mention that this is heavily inspired by the book Blood Music by Greg Bear. And hey, look! It's a fanfic from me with plot! And Teal'c isn't trapped in a closet! Wow!

* * *

Chapter One: "A Giant Pond of Green Jello"

Colonel Jack O'Neill surveyed his surroundings with little interest. There were lots of trees. He recognized oak, spruce, and birch –but those were the names of trees from home. He wasn't on Earth; in fact, he was on another planet. Not that you could really tell, Jack thought. If he hadn't known any better, he'd think he was in British Columbia.

Jack wandered around a rock pile utterly bored. What he wouldn't do for something to –Jack stopped his line of thought immediately. The last thing he needed was ironic wish fulfillment. He was just asking for it –a sun exploding, a Goa'uld mothership, a blackhole or (Jack shuddered) something completely different.

The thought was already out there; however, so naturally something had to happen. Jack's eyes widened and his mouth propped open slightly at the sight of the 'something'. He took off his shades to look at it with his naked eyes. Hidden behind the rock pile and a few conveniently placed spruces (that weren't really spruces) was a giant pond of green Jello. Huh. Just when he'd thought he'd seen everything.

"Hey Carter," crackled Sam's radio.

She finished taking her soil sample and answered her commanding officer: "Sir?"

"You'd better come over here. I've found something… weird."

"Weird?"

"…Unusual?"

"More specifically…?"

"It's a pond I think."

So far, Sam wasn't that impressed. "A pond, sir?" Sam began to move on to take her next soil sample.

"It's fluorescent green, Carter, which leads me to think that it's not water."

Sam smirked and restrained herself from commenting on the Colonel's observational skills. Instead she echoed, "Green water?"

"More like green Jello… just get over here, will you? I'm about five klicks south from the base camp."

"Okay, sir. I'll be there soon."

* * *

A few minutes later, Sam finished taking her soil samples, and was getting ready to go and join the Colonel, when she heard someone call her name. 

She looked up to see Daniel Jackson walking towards her. The Major smiled in greeting and waited for him to join her. "Are you going to Jack's Jello Pond?" he asked, air quoting the words 'Jello Pond'.

"Just going now," Sam answered, shrugging on her pack.

"I'm coming with you. Sounds weird." And it would probably be more entertaining than watching Teal'c meditate, Sam speculated.

Confirming her suspicion, Sam asked, "Getting bored with base camp?" Daniel had very little to do on planets like these –ones where there was lots of vegetation, but no signs of civilization. Daniel shrugged in reply and the two teammates set out towards the Jello Pond.

* * *

Goo. Daniel decided on first inspection that the pond looked decidedly goo-like. Jello was a bit too solid a description for what seemed to be a more fluid liquid. 

"Good, you're here." Jack greeted his two teammates. He eyed the slime warily.

"I'm going to grab Teal'c and check in with Hammond," Jack told them, ready to hand over his discovery to the 'geeks'. Before leaving the Colonel asked, "I'm assuming you're gonna want to take a sample of it, Carter?"

"Probably, sir." Sam's head was buried in her pack, searching for her latex gloves.

It was probably because of all the cartoons Jack watched, but fluorescent green goo just screamed toxic and radioactive. "Just be careful touching it… got it Daniel?" he instructed, shouting over his shoulder. The Colonel frowned as he watched Daniel move closer to the pond's edge.

Daniel made some sort of grunt that either meant that he was agreeing with the Colonel, or calling him a Jack-ass under his breath for treating him like a child.

Naturally, (keeping with the theme of the mission) that was when something strange happened.

* * *

"Teal'c? You there?" 

Teal'c's eyes immediately opened. He was sitting on a flat rock by the base camp. Contrary to appearance, he hadn't been sleeping. In fact, Teal'c had been in a deep state of mediation, acutely aware of all of his surroundings (there was an irritating fly-like insect that had been buzzing by his ear for the last hour). Teal'c's hand shot out, killing the fly instantly. That done, he answered his radio.

"O'Neill?"

"Carter's going to be there in ten to help you pack up camp. I'm taking Daniel home."

They were not scheduled to leave for another day. Teal'c curiosity was peaked. "What has happened?"

"Oh Daniel got attacked by a giant blob of goo," O'Neill answered with almost a casual tone.

Teal'c's left eyebrow raised. Once again, the Jaffa warrior found himself confused due to Tau'ri euphemisms (or was it just O'Neill-isms?).

"Interesting," he replied into his radio, "I will begin taking down the camp immediately O'Neill." Ever efficient, Teal'c began to do just that.

* * *

Too often today Jack had been feeling the urge to smack Daniel in the head. 

"Jack, I really don't need to go back to the SGC. I'm fine," argued the archeologist as they walked towards the Gate.

"It's not your call, Daniel."

"I feel fine," he repeated, stressing the word 'fine' as if Jack had been deaf the first dozen times.

"Carter might have missed it, but I saw that stuff sink into your skin. Until Doc Fraiser pokes your ass with needles and declares you non-radioactive, you're not fine."

Daniel hated how stubborn Jack could be. He was intolerable (and Daniel told him as much).

"And _you_ can't stop yourself from touching extraterrestrial goo!" retorted the Colonel.

Daniel didn't correct Jack. "The goo touched me!" didn't seem like a good counter-argument. Instead he chose to grind his teeth a bit harder. The two men walked in silence the rest of the way to the Stargate.

* * *

"Teal'c!" 

The man in question finished stuffing a pack with the last of the two tents. "Major Carter," he greeted.

"Almost ready to go?" Teal'c answered by nodding, and pointed to the equipment pack a few meters away from him. Sam went over to finish tying up the pack.

"How is Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c inquired.

"He was whining about the injustice of being forced to go back to the SGC last I saw him. He's fine."

"You believe O'Neill was too hasty in his decision?"

"I didn't say that," Sam answered as Teal'c walked over to help her put on her eighty pound pack.

"Ten dollars says that nothing's wrong with him." Sam was worried, but she was determined not to let it show. By making a light-hearted bet, she could pretend the situation wasn't serious.

"Twenty dollars and the watching of Star Wars next movie night," was Teal'c's retort. Was he just as worried? Was he playing along for the same reason she was? Or was it just to make her comfortable?

Sam added her own amendment, "We'll watch Princess Bride when Janet gives him a clean bill of heath." Internally Sam wondered when she had started using humour to cover up her feelings. Had she inadvertently picked up the Colonel's bad habit of hiding behind a façade of sarcasm?

Teal'c eyebrow shot up. "Agreed," he replied. As Sam scanned the campsite for any forgotten items, she tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach that the odds were in Teal'c's favour. Did Daniel ever return from a mission with 'a clean bill of health'?

* * *

"Offworld activation from PX3 489, sir. Receiving SG-1's GDO." 

This news was received with a sharp nod from the sergeant's commanding officer General Hammond. SG-1 was on time for their scheduled radio check. Good. Hammond liked it when things ran smoothly.

"Sir," a live video feed of Colonel O'Neill addressed the General, "Requesting permission to return to the SGC, a.s.a.p."

Hammond frowned. Maybe things weren't as smooth-running as he'd hoped? "Why, Colonel?"

"Daniel touched some green Jello-like thing and it went right into his skin. I'd like Fraiser to have a look at him."

"I'm fine, General," Hammond heard in the background, and Jack gave the off-screen protester a withering look.

"Does Major Carter need to stay behind to finish her preliminary surveys?"

"Nope. She's already done. She and Teal'c are packing up camp right now."

"We'll see you in a few minutes then," Hammond said, granting his permission.

"Thank you, sir. Daniel, quit moaning and…" The radio transmission cut off.

"Open the iris, sergeant, and call Dr. Fraiser and let her know that she has an unexpected post-mission physical."

* * *

"What seems to be the problem?" inquired Dr. Janet Fraiser as Daniel and Jack trooped into the infirmary. 

"What typically happens when I specifically tell Daniel not to touch something?"

"He touched something," Janet concluded.

Daniel's teeth were going to dull soon from grinding.

"I feel fine." His protest was weak, but not unheard by Janet.

"I'll be the judge of that," she replied. Turning slightly, she called out to a nurse lurking on the outskirts of the infirmary: "Sally, could you set up the MRI for Dr. Jackson?"

Daniel gave his doctor a charming smile –a last ditch effort to get out of the unpleasant situation. Janet would have none of it. "Can I have your arm, Daniel? I want to take some blood."

Daniel groaned and Jack looked almost gleeful. Jack slowly backed out of the room to leave the doctor and patient alone, but wasn't quite fast enough –

"Janet? Jack was near the contaminant too. I wouldn't let him leave yet." Daniel jerked his head towards the Colonel who had one foot out in the hallway.

"Sir, he's right. Don't go anywhere. I'm going to want a full physical from you too."

Jack's expression almost made the atrocious situation worth while for the archeologist.

* * *

A pin-light in the eye, a cold stethoscope on the back, a wooden stick stuck down the throat, needles jabbed in unmentionable regions, a CAT scan, and a MRI scan later, Janet addressed the reunited team with her findings: 

"I want you to tell me immediately if you have any symptoms Daniel, but from what I can see, you're fine."

"I am?"

"He is?"

"That's weird."

"Indeed."

"MRI, x-ray and blood work all came back clean," Janet told the doubting Toms.

"Well what do you know," muttered the Colonel, and walked away from the group to report to Hammond on a black phone on the infirmary wall.

"Teal'c…?" hedged a smug Sam Carter.

"You are the victor… this time, Major Carter."

"Wait a second. What was that…?" asked a confused Daniel. Sam shrugged innocently and Teal'c didn't bat an eye (not particularly unusual).

"You bet on whether I'd gotten infected with something?" concluded the perturbed archeologist. Of course he was right, but his teammates would never admit to it. Verbally. (Sam's victorious smirk spoke for itself.)

"Post mission briefing in twenty minutes kids," Jack announced, rejoining the group.

"They bet on whether I'd get sick!" Daniel whined to Jack.

Jack's response was typical: "Really. Who lost and why wasn't I in on it?"

Daniel sighed and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. They knew better than to ask.

* * *

It wasn't until a few days later that a slightly nervous Daniel Jackson found himself once again in the infirmary. 

"I'm looking for Janet…?" he asked a nurse who was sticking a tongue depressor down Siler's throat.

The nurse smiled and waved distractedly in the direction of Doctor Frasier's office.

Daniel knocked anxiously on the door.

"It's open!" Janet shouted from inside the room. Daniel came through the door in a whirlwind.

"Hey Daniel, what can I do for you?" Janet asked. If Daniel wasn't so freaked out, he'd probably notice how Janet's whole face brightened at his intrusion.

"Hey," he replied, and launched right into his problem: "Do you remember how you told me the other day that I should report any symptoms--"

Janet was all business now, "What happened?"

Daniel pointed to his eyes, "I'm not wearing contacts." She noticed he wasn't wearing glasses either.

Janet frowned and led him briskly into the main infirmary. There were tests to be done.

* * *

TBC 

(I like reviews more than Jack likes Jello...)


	2. How do you say Hello?

Author's Note: Thank you so much to those who reviewed! Also, kudos to Mara Jade Jedi for betaing this chapter for me (twice actually).

* * *

Chapter Two: How do you say 'Hello'? 

Jack knocked lightly on an open laboratory door. The owner of which (one Samantha Carter), glanced up from her computer screen and smiled in greeting.

"Sir?"

"Wanna walk with me to the infirmary?" he asked. Jack continued, trying to answer her confused look, "Daniel's proving a point for me." This 'clarification' succeeded in making the Major more puzzled.

"What point?"

"The one about touching alien goo…" The Colonel called over his shoulder, already heading out the door. A bewildered and slightly concerned Sam was right on his heels, following her commanding officer to the infirmary.

Similarly, Janet Fraiser was also having a confusing morning. Teal'c, Jack, and Sam were gathered around the doctor and patient as Janet tried to explain that Daniel was in the best health of his life. Ever. To which all the typical redundant comments were made:

"I am?"

"He is?"

"That's weird."

"Indeed."

"And I can't even begin to explain why Daniel's eyesight has improved spontaneously."

Jack tried: "So Daniel, fall into any sarcophaguses recently?" Daniel shot Jack a look that told him that his smart-ass behaviour was not appreciated (as usual).

"And you've experienced no other symptoms?" Janet asked.

Daniel wondered if a strange new addiction for health food was a symptom ---

_Bonjour. Guten Tag. Tal'matte. Ciao. Hola._

Unexpectedly, Daniel heard the word "Hello" in a thousand different languages.

"Did you hear that?"

His friends' confused expressions were answer enough. Janet ventured to ask the obvious question, "Hear what?"

_Within… not external._ Daniel heard this message, like the greeting, in a dozen languages including Russian, German, Goa'uld, even Ancient?

"External?" muttered Daniel, his brow creased in thought, trying to sort through the bombardment of languages. He didn't even realize he was being ushered to an infirmary bed, until he felt pressure on his shoulder to sit down and felt the familiar stiff mattress beneath him.

Daniel could barely make out Jack asking, "Who the hell are you talking to?" He wouldn't mind knowing himself.

_Language… complex… learn. We within you, Dr. Daniel Jackson._

Daniel was both fascinated and frightened. Someone, something, was trying to communicate with him.

"Who are you?" Daniel mumbled out loud. His friends were very concerned for him at his point. Jack snapped his fingers in front of Daniel's dazed face, while Janet started hooking him up to various medical devices.

There was no answer from the mysterious voices, but that didn't stop Daniel from speculation…

"Wait a second. You're saying that the compound you touched on P3X 489 is intelligent?" asked Sam.

"Yes. They were talking to me… learning language." His shuttered English then began to sound like gibberish: "confundo quia ego cognitio multus linguae."

"He said something about the goo being confused because he speaks so many languages… Very badly actually. Awful grammar," Jack off-handedly translated. Teal'c wasn't surprised; however, Sam and Janet looked at the Colonel as if he'd grown a second head.

"Latin, guys." Although it was three years after the "Time Loop Hell" incident, Jack still spoke fluent Latin. It was an intellectual feat that caught the two women off-guard. Not for the first time, Sam wondered how hard the Colonel worked to maintain his simple minded reputation.

With this new development in Daniel's condition, Janet announced, "I want to do another MRI of Daniel right now." Without another word, she set off to find the right equipment.

While Janet was gone, the remaining members of SG-1 struggled to communicate with Daniel. However, other then the odd word in Goa'uld, Latin, or English, Daniel was incomprehensible. It was "Jack going Ancient" all over again.

"So the real question is: do we have anybody on base who can speak…" Colonel O'Neill made a 180 degree turn and addressed Daniel, "How many languages do you speak?"

"Vingt sept."

That wasn't Latin --Jack looked around the room, eyes asking if anyone could understand what the heck Daniel was saying.

"That's French, sir. He said twenty seven," offered a nurse who was restocking the shelves with medical supplies a few feet away.

"So all we need is someone who can speak twenty seven languages… most of them probably dead or extraterrestrial," Jack concluded. There was a reason that Daniel was irreplaceable.

"Perhaps if we asked for Major Stevens' assistance?" Teal'c suggested.

"That red-headed geek from SG-9? He's bilingual?"

"I believe the term is multilingual, O'Neill. He speaks seventeen languages."

"Not too bad. So all we have to hope is that Daniel doesn't spout off the meaning of life in one of the ten other languages…"

At that point in time, Janet arrived with her doohickeys. Threatened with needles if they didn't leave the premises immediately, the remaining three members left to update Hammond on the situation.

* * *

"…Twenty-seven languages," Jack finished describing to his commanding officer the current language barrier. 

The three remaining members of SG-1 were debriefing Hammond about Daniel's current state, including the theory that it was linked to the slimy incident from three days ago, and discussing the possibility of sealing off the base as a precaution.

"I just had a thought, sir," Sam announced.

"That's what I was counting on!" Jack proclaimed.

"What about that device we picked up on PX5 763? The one that we thought might be a translator of some kind."

"I'll have Area 51 send it to us immediately. Do you think you can make it work, Major?" Hammond asked.

Sam shrugged, "It's worth a shot, sir."

Janet interrupted the meeting with a flourish, holding the results from her scans.

"I just finished printing up the new functional MRI of Daniel's brain and I compared it with the one I took when Daniel came to me two hours ago." All eyes at the table were on her. They were a captivated audience, ready to hear her findings.

"And…?" hedged Jack impatiently.

"Activity in the left side of his brain has spiked, which is what I originally suspected. The left side of the brain is where language functions are primarily found. His symptoms are almost like he's suffering from a highly selective form of aphasia."

"Aphasia?" asked Sam.

"A disorder where a patient loses the ability to communicate in some way –be it reading, writing or speaking. It's usually due to brain damage."

"Daniel's suffering from brain damage!" Jack's panicked voice filled the briefing room, and it spoke for all its occupants.

"I said that aphasia is usually caused by brain damage. I don't think that's what we're dealing with." How Janet managed to sound frustrated and reassuring at the same time had to be a superpower of some sort.

"Then what are we dealing with?" asked Jack. All he wanted was a straight answer.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." It wasn't the answer that Jack had been looking for, but Janet Fraiser was determined… and slightly scary.

"Doctor Fraiser, what do you need?" inquired the General.

"Assuming that this is related to SG-1's last mission, I'm going to need a larger bulk sample of the compound Daniel came in contact with, sir."

"I'll do that, sir," volunteered the Colonel.

"And I shall accompany you, O'Neill," added Teal'c.

The General agreed to the plan with a slight nod of his head. "You can head out as soon as you're ready. Dismissed." His last word initiated an outbreak of movement. Hammond was the only one who stayed in his seat, watching silently as his best people hurried out of the room.

The base wouldn't be sealed for now, he decided. So far Dr. Jackson was the only one who had been inflicted with delusions (an unsettling pattern). No one could question Daniel's sanity. Not this time.

* * *

TBC 

(Reviews have been shown to make authors type faster. I swear!)


	3. A Lack of Communication

Authors Note: The reviews were awesome, guys! Thank you so much (and keep 'em coming). Also, a huge thank you to my beta, Mara Jade Jedi.

* * *

Chapter Three: A Lack of Communication

Daniel couldn't believe that they'd called in Stevens. Even with all of his objections! Sure, he had been speaking to them in Ancient Egyptian, but the frantic waving and groaning should have been universally understood.

Stevens was the one of those frustratingly keen, annoying, geeky types that wouldn't know a piece of Sumerian cuneiform if it hit him on the head! (Cuneiform was typically carved in stone. Daniel could probably knock Stevens out if he could get his hands on the large tablet currently in his office.) Stevens was a lot like Daniel had been a lifetime ago, which was probably the main reason he found him so irritable.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Daniel said to himself in an obscure dialect of German he'd heard on '245.

"Dr. Jackson… what do penguins have to do with anything?" Stevens mistranslated.

Daniel hit his head against the backboard of his infirmary bed a couple of times in frustration.

* * *

Frustrated with the translator, Sam was taking a much needed break. She went to check up on Daniel, but found him deep in conversation with Stevens. He was also rocking back in his bed, hitting his head, and looking like he was wishing that he actually had brain damage. Sam decided that it probably wasn't a good time to tell him that she still hadn't figured out the translating device. Seeing that Janet wasn't in the infirmary, Sam headed in the direction of the observatory laboratories (Janet's likely hiding spot).

She walked in on Janet staring at several electron micrographs. Janet was examining the bulk sample of 'green goo' the Colonel and Teal'c had retrieved a couple of hours earlier.

"What's up?" Sam asked, putting on a lab coat and a pair of latex gloves.

"Look at this," Janet didn't offer the micrographs, but pointed to the compound microscope next to her.

Sam put on her safety glasses and asked, "What am I looking at?"

"The substance that's apparently 'infected' Daniel," Janet described, still staring in disbelief at the micrographs.

Sam looked at the sample and fiddled with the contrast for a bit. She had only taken a couple of undergraduate biology classes, but she was fairly certain…

"Are these eukaryotic cells?" The type of cell that made up all plant and animal life on Earth.

"Yep. At first I wasn't sure, but…" Janet handed her the micrographs, which were a much more detailed picture of what Sam had just seen under the 'scope.

"So Daniel has been inflected with an organism? It's alive?" Sam pointed to the sample under the glass 'cage'. Could Daniel not have been delusional? Could there be an intelligent life-form inside him?

Janet was obviously uneasy by the idea. "It fits our own basic definition of life. I'd be tempted to relate it to algae, based on its physical appearance… but the cells? They're not plant cells like algae. They're remarkably similar to our own."

"Maybe that's why your initial post-mission checkup came up clean for Daniel?"

"Maybe. What I don't understand is why Daniel's body hasn't attacked the foreign organism. There should be some sort of immune response to the presence of these cells, but that's not the case –he's not showing any of the typical symptoms. Admittedly, they're close to our own cells, but they're not identical –membrane, signal, receptor proteins, **something** should be acting as an antigen!"

Somewhere in Janet's rant, Sam's limited knowledge of cell biology failed her. "Wait a sec, Janet. You lost me."

Janet raised an eyebrow, impressed despite herself. After organizing her thoughts, she took a deep breath and tried to explain what she was saying within a context that Sam would understand: "Why do we want to grow, or clone, organs?"

Janet's question only served to confuse Sam further. "For organ transplant," she answered, not sure where Janet was going with her example.

"Because when you take one human organ and place it into another human being, there's always a high risk of rejection. Even though they are both from humans. An organ is unique to the person it comes from. There are specific proteins on the organ's cells making it unique. When a foreign organ is introduced to a patient, the body's immune system recognizes these proteins and attacks the new organ, often killing the patient in the process. Organ donation aside, I don't know why Daniel's immune system isn't attacking these foreign cells."

"Unless they've managed to disable or mask their presence to the immune system somehow."

The idea was sound, but it was the way Sam phrased her sentence that bothered Janet, "It sounds like you believe Daniel –that it's intelligent."

"We've met so many different forms of life. What if this is our first contact with an intelligent single-celled organism? A smart cell."

"We have no way of knowing that these cells can work independently of each other. Let alone whether they are 'intelligent' according to our definition of the word. It would take months, years of research to confirm or disprove that, Sam, and I don't know what sort of effect it would have on Daniel by that time." Janet seemed to visibly age before Sam's eyes, slouching in her stool, wiping her eyes hard.

"If it's masking its presence from the immune system," Janet backtracked, "I need to find a way to 'unmask' it. Could be our only way to kill it."

"Best idea I've heard all day," added the Colonel from the doorway of the lab. He had been listening quietly to the exchange until he was ready to add his own two cents. Sam's eyes narrowed at the Colonel's intrusion.

"You want to kill off a living organism that for all that we know might be trying to peacefully communicate with us?" Sam countered.

"It's not giving us much of a choice, Carter."

"With all due respect, sir, where would we be today if we killed every new species we came into contact with? This should be our last resort. We should be trying to communicate with it!" Sam's angry voice echoed in the lab. Thoughts of "insubordination" and "commanding officer" were pushed aside. They were too close for that to matter.

Janet glared at the pair and Jack took the unsubtle hint; he jerked his head, pointing into the hallway. Sam followed him out the door, gearing up for a fight.

"Communicate with it?" Jack quoted her, "For crying out loud, I can't believe we're going to go through this… again."

"If we hadn't communicated with the orb, you'd be dead right now, sir."

"And if we hadn't communicated with the Entity, I wouldn't have had to shoot you twice with a zat gun, Carter!"

The tension was thick, neither willing to stand down. Glaring hard at his stubborn second-in-command, Jack felt his body sway towards her. Couldn't she just see for a minute that Daniel was going crazy! They had to kill this thing!

He opened his mouth to articulate these thoughts, but was shocked to find himself a mere inch away from Carter's face. The tension wasn't anger any more… it was decidedly different.

Their noses touched…

"COLONEL! SAM!"

They jerked away from each other suddenly, as if burned. What the hell had almost happened there? But as usual there was no time to think about their near-miss. Jack and Sam ran back into the lab, hearing Janet cry out desperately again.

* * *

TBC

(Feedback is the perfect snack food for my muse, so please review.)


	4. The Vorfahren

Author Note: Just to be repetitive, thank you for the reviews! It makes me so happy knowing that this fic is being read and enjoyed. Mara Jade Jedi also deserves major betaing credit.

* * *

Chapter Four: The Vorfahren

They rushed in to find Janet on the verge of panic. Somehow, the organism had escaped its' container, and now was on Janet's hands. Janet desperately looked towards her friends for help.

"Janet! The sink!" Sam told her.

"We can't risk it going down the drain…" Sam plugged the drain.

"What will kill this thing?" The Colonel demanded, looking to Carter for the answer.

They had to prevent Janet from being infected. No matter the cost. Even if it was alive.

"You're still wearing latex?" asked Sam.

Janet nodded, "Two pairs. I think that's why it hasn't been absorbed into my skin yet."

Sam ran to the other side of the lab and grabbed a brown box. It had a white plastic nozzle and was labeled "12M HCl". It was highly concentrated hydrochloric acid –very corrosive and dangerous.

Janet's eyes widened. She knew exactly what Sam was planning on doing. She just prayed that the organism hadn't eaten through her gloves in any way.

"What can I do?" asked the Colonel.

"Grab the neutralization salts, and go to the other sink and turn on the water full blast."

As soon as Jack had done as she'd asked, Janet held her hands over the plugged sink.

"On three," said Sam. And after one and two, Sam poured the hydrochloric acid carefully over her friend's hands. The green slime instantly became more fluid and slid off the doctor's hands into the plugged sink.

"Plug the other sink!" cried Janet to the Colonel, as she rushed over to wash off the strong acid.

Janet had her hands under the taps for five minutes before she decided that they were clean. The Colonel had alerted the Hazmat crew and they started to clean up the remaining 'goo' in the lab, but only after Janet took a sample from the sink and made sure the cells were dead.

"Janet, your hands," Sam pointed out. They were red and rough; she hadn't completely escaped from the corrosive acid. "Should you do something for them?" inquired her friend.

"They're not bad," Janet dismissed Sam's worries.

"Let's get something to eat," suggested the Colonel, "While they do what they're doing…" He gestured to the people cleaning the lab.

"I could probably go for some coffee," admitted Janet.

"Good, it's settled then."

And the three went to the commissary, hoping that they would be spared from an emergency for twenty minutes.

* * *

The threesome settled down with their caffeinated beverages. The Colonel was discussing the eerie similarities between the cafeteria's Jello desserts and the organism that had nearly contaminated the entire base. Sam let her mind wander back to the problematic translation device. It was mid-coffee sip when she had a sudden moment of insight. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed a bit too much caffeine (burning her tongue in the process).

"I've got it!" Sam proclaimed, tone laced with excitement, and she ran out on snack-time abruptly.

Janet looked at the Colonel. The Colonel looked back at the doctor and shrugged.

"Must be good coffee," Jack commented.

* * *

Sam and her MacGyvered translator were in the infirmary a couple of hours later.

"Major, I've found a replacement for you," she announced to Major Stevens as she approached the two linguists. He seemed almost disappointed.

"I think I was just figuring out the syntax structure of Ancient. Daniel and I have been having the most interesting conversation about the natives of P3X 547."

Daniel muttered something under his breath and Sam stifled a laugh from the translation she read on the screen: "I've been asking for a glass of water for the last twenty minutes."

"Well, we'll see if it's working first, Major." Sam promptly left the room, returning five minutes later with a bottle of water. The grateful look on Daniel's face was answer enough.

* * *

The translator allowed for Stevens to (finally!) be called away for other duties. Sam stayed for a while, but then she too had to go. (There was a frantic phone call, involving Siler and Gate Diagnostics.) Suddenly, Daniel found himself with little to do. Usually when he was stuck in the infirmary he was sick or dying.

So he tried something a little bit crazy.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Daniel asked to himself.

He hadn't "heard" anything since earlier that morning, but that didn't mean that the interlopers inside him had decided to leave. Quite the contrary, while Daniel had spent the afternoon arguing with Major Stevens over syntax and irregular verbs, they had been listening to it all. In the process they were learning all the various languages of Daniel's universe.

_Hello._

It was like the incident in the morning all over again. It sounded like a million voices speaking in unison. There was a quieter echo of the greeting in several languages.

"I'm Daniel. Who are you?" he replied when the uneasiness in his stomach settled slightly.

_We are your vorfahren. _Daniel recognized the word immediately. Vorfahren was German for ancestors.

Daniel had the feeling he was in for one hell of a conversation.

* * *

"I finished the translation device, sir," Carter announced to the Colonel. She was standing in a doorway, unsure as to whether she wanted to completely enter Colonel O'Neill's office. Her commanding officer looked up from his rarely used desk at the sound of her voice. Finding nothing else he could do, he'd been writing reports.

"Good," Jack replied. He glanced at his watch. It was almost eleven pm. "Go to bed, Carter. It's been a long day." There wasn't anything else they could do for Daniel right now.

Sam nodded, but hesitated from leaving the room. After a moment of indecision, she closed the office door behind her. "We should talk, sir."

"About what, Carter?" He had a feeling, a hunch if you will, about what she was talking about. However, in times of duress, Jack always stuck to what he did best. Playing stupid.

"What happened earlier…" she hinted. Jack continued to look at her cluelessly. "In the hallway outside of the lab…"

Oh. That. Up until now they had done a very good job of ignoring and pretending it had never happened. Jack liked that. He felt comfortable with that.

"Nothing happened." It was the truth. There was nothing to report. There was no actual intimate contact (nose brushing didn't count!) and therefore no breaking of the regulations. He was brushing it off (pun intended) and Sam didn't know if she should be angry or relieved.

"I know. It just…" It was frustrating. 'It' was always there.

He finished off her sentence eloquently, "…sucks."

"Yeah."

"We're okay?"

"We're always okay," she confirmed, "It's just sometimes I think we're going to be stuck there forever." She turned around and made her exit.

Jack couldn't have said it better himself.

* * *

TBC

(Please share your thoughts with a review.)


	5. Just Another First Contact

Author's Note: Thank you to those who took the time to review the last chapter and Mara Jade Jedi for the beta.

* * *

Chapter Five: "Just another first contact…" 

It was unlike anything Daniel had ever experienced before (and that was saying something). In a matter of hours, they had learned the basics of twenty seven languages, although Daniel still had to be careful not to use euphemisms. Remarkably, language wasn't the only way they communicated. They interacted with all of his senses. Daniel couldn't get used to suddenly being assaulted with smells (tar, perfume, freshly cut grass…) and then being commanded to describe the sensation by the curious interlopers. It was like Urgo, except far less annoying.

When Daniel was sick of tasting, smelling, and hallucinating, they would talk to him. For Daniel, their conversations were the most fascinating aspect of the entire experience.

_We were once like you. Without Consciousness._

"Without consciousness? I have consciousness."

_The Command Cell Cluster is conscious perhaps but so much is unaware._

"The Command Cell Cluster?"

_You. A part of you._

"Why did you infect me?"

_We were curious. You are so much like us… before the Big Change._

"The Big Change?"

_When we… evolved. Gained consciousness. You are our living past._

"You're historians! Anthropologists!"

_Yes. And scientists. Scholars. We seek knowledge._

"Did you make my eyesight better? I don't need glasses anymore." This led to a clarification of the word 'glasses' and what they were.

_You are inefficient. We are making you better._

"Are making? You're still doing making changes?"

_Yes._

"What are you doing to me?"

_We are you. Symbiotic._

Fear was Daniel's uncontrollable response. One word dominated his thoughts: "Goa'uld." But they didn't know who the Goa'uld were, and although Daniel tried his best to explain his enemy, they failed to see the comparison.

Exhausted by the mental exercise or perhaps triggered by the organisms within him, Daniel eventually stumbled into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Janet wandered into her infirmary, and checked on her most popular patient. She flipped through his charts, more out of habit than anything else. Daniel was sleeping. She should be doing the same. Sleep eluded her however –coffee was the obvious reason. If she was honest with herself (a rarity), it seemed whenever SG-1 was in danger, she always was an insomniac. 

She watched Daniel for a moment. He was ever the medical miracle/pain-in-the-ass. He was her friend and she was damned if she'd let him down. She yawned again, and berated herself (sleep was a necessary evil).

Putting away his charts, she silently turned around to go out the door ---

"Janet?" a faint voice muttered. Not as silent as she had hoped then.

She turned around and headed back to his bed, where a half-asleep Daniel Jackson was smiling at her. Idly, Janet wondered where his floppy hair had gone in order to complete the five-year-old look.

"Hessariak en shine?" He asked. Janet glanced at the translator by the bed: "What time is it?"

"Late," she admitted, "Go back to sleep, Daniel." She gave him a small smile and pulled the blanket he'd tossed aside on top of him, tucking him in.

"Janet," he grabbed her hand, "Jacoork en themble ja olka cetunugoo." His incomprehensive words were punctuated with a second smile. Another quick glance at the alien device, and Janet felt her heart melt a bit. Daniel Jackson was too sweet for his own good (for her own good too). She knew better than to fall for his charms; experience had already taught her that harsh lesson.

Feeling the roughness of her hands, he added, "Shrook anna loopa?"

"It's nothing," she reassured him and repeated her earlier advice, "Get some rest. Doctor's orders." Janet gave his hand a final squeeze and let go.

With one foot out the door, she turned back towards him and said just barely loud enough for him to hear, "You don't have to tell me. I already know."

* * *

Daniel closed his eyes, trying to fall back to sleep. They were still there. They sounded like a bee buzzing around his ear. Daniel wasn't sure of the purpose of the low pitched humming noise. Perhaps it was their own mode of communication? 

"How many of you are in me?" he wondered, not really expecting an answer.

_Many._

"How many? A number?" There was no answer and after a moment, Daniel tried a different tactic. "Where are you specifically within me?" There was still no answer. "Hello?"

_We cannot answer those questions._

"Cannot or will not?"

_Will not._

"Why?"

_Not permitted by those superior._

"Those who were superior? You have a hierarchy? A government?"

_Yes. We fear… _(They had emotions? Daniel wasn't sure.) …_that the information could lead to our elimination._

"Death?"

_Yes._

"You think we're trying to kill you?" There was no answer. "We're not trying to kill you." At least, Daniel didn't think so. Janet could have other ideas, if she was still bent on treating them like any other virus.

_Many have already been killed. Yet we are immortal. Each of us has millions of… _(There was a pause here. Word searching: Brothers? Sisters? Daughters? Sons? Until one was chosen.) …_clones. We never die because when one dies, thousands live on._

They were a unicellular life-form, Daniel gathered. Similar to himself and capable of 'helping' him achieve this type of immortality, although they hadn't claimed this outright. His conclusions were based mostly on speculation. Yet Daniel had been offered this sort of thing before (ascension sprang immediately to mind) and there always had been some sort of price to pay. With ascension it had been possessing knowledge and power, but the inability to act. What had the Vorfahren given up? Independence? Freedom? Individuality? Humanity?

_We can bring you to our world._

"Your world? I thought we lived in the same world?"

_You live in the macroscopic. We live in the microscopic. The internal. We live within. We can show you our world._

"You can?"

_Only if you wish._

"Would I be able to leave?" His earlier thoughts had made him cautious.

_Yes._

First and foremost, Daniel was an archeologist. This was like asking a kid if he wanted to go to a candy store.

"Daniel? Can you hear me?" Someone was trying to ground him. Daniel felt a small, feminine hand brush his forehead.

"Janet," he answered, opening his heavy eyes and refocusing his attention from the mind-bending internal conversation outwards to the external world. However, the Vorfahren were still there. Waiting.

Was it morning already? Hadn't it been less than an hour since Janet had visited him last? Daniel craned his head to an awkward angle. He could hear the regular earlier morning 'traffic' outside the infirmary, and caught sight of a clock proclaiming the time to be nine a.m.

Janet looked relieved –Daniel felt terrible for worrying her. She was the one who always took care of everyone. Who took care of her?

"Are they still talking to you?" she asked. Daniel wondered if he had been talking out loud in his sleep.

She read his reply off the translator, "They want me to join them… meet them. I'm not too sure what they mean exactly…"

Janet frowned, feeling decidedly powerless. It was two years ago and Daniel was on his own all over again.

"Are you going to?" She had no control. Medicine had hit its limit.

Daniel gave her a half smile, "It's just another first contact, Janet. It's something I have to do. Tell them not to worry."

There was little question as to whom Daniel was referring. Janet felt a brace around her heart when Daniel closed his eyes, as if he was going to sleep. "Them" didn't include her –she broke no promises when worry unfurled in the pit of her stomach.

The ancestors spoke up again when Daniel's closed his eyes and he was enveloped in darkness.

_Are you ready? _

"Yes."

* * *

TBC 

Try and fill in the blank: Please --blank--. (Hint: starts with R and ends with eview. Hehe.)


	6. The Thought Universe

Author's Note: A huge shout out to the reviewers that have been diligently writing to me. You really make me want to keep posting. To address Jennyvre's question, I originally had Daniel's line translated, but I decided instead to leave the reader wondering –in true Stargate SG-1 style! (Yep, that's a Jack speaking Ancient reference.) Also, thanks to Mara Jade Jedi, the Betaing Queen!

* * *

Chapter Six: The Thought Universe

"Daniel has lapsed into a coma."

This was met with the type of dead silence that Janet hated. She was in the briefing room, reporting to General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, Teal'c and Sam about Daniel's condition.

"But I don't think it's natural," she informed the group, "Moments before he went comatose, Daniel told me that the organisms in his body had asked him to 'join them'. That he was going to initiate a first contact."

It was weird, thought the Colonel, but what wasn't these days?

"And I'm sure that's going to go so well," Jack muttered. His second-in-command glared at him, but Jack didn't catch the look, instead focusing on the pen he was fiddling with in his right hand.

"Is there any way we might be of assistance?" asked Teal'c.

Janet shook her head. "I'm going to keep looking for a way to neutralize the organism, but if it is intelligent, I'm not sure how effective anything I come up with will be. Daniel's first contact approach might end up being the best solution."

"We won't keep you then, Doctor," Hammond replied. Janet took the dismissal and hurried out of the briefing room, not willing to lose any time (even if it was going to be spent hitting her head against a microscope).

Hammond gave the remaining three a sympathetic look before issuing his orders, "Until such time as Dr. Jackson has recovered, SG-1 will be grounded. Major, unless you believe you can assist Dr. Fraiser, there are a number of items SG-11 brought back…"

"I'm on it, sir," Sam replied.

"Teal'c, if you would work with Major Castleman for SG-5's Hand-to-Hand combat training?" Teal'c nodded his head, accepting the assignment.

"And Colonel, I'd appreciate it if you would…"

"Finish writing my reports. Gotcha."

"Dismissed."

Hammond watched them leave before he let the mask of command drop. Now worry and exhaustion were evident on his features. He was concerned for the young man he'd known for so many years now. He was also worried (selfishly) what would happen if Daniel didn't make it this time.

* * *

"Welcome to our universe, Dr. Jackson."

It was a bright white room. Infinite. Dimensionless. Daniel couldn't see the floor he was standing on (all white), but it felt solid –almost like concrete. The speaker was a man who was immaculately dressed. He was wearing a black suit, white cotton shirt, and a black tie. He was Caucasian with brown eyes and hair, a person that would never stand-out. If he added a pair of sunglasses, Daniel would be tempted to describe the situation as a Matrix-inspired nightmare.

"Hello," Daniel replied eventually (it was rude to stand there dumb-struck), "What is this place?"

"This is a laboratory, in a manner of speaking. It is controlled by our very thoughts. Our Thought Universe."

"What's your name?"

"You can call me Virgil."

Daniel recognized the classical reference immediately, "Dante's Divine Comedy."

"I am your guide," was Virgil's explanation. Whether it was through Hell or Purgatory, Daniel didn't know.

Suddenly, two chairs shimmered into existence in front of them. They were large, comfortable recliners –the type that Daniel wished he owned, but never got around to purchasing. Daniel had just been thinking that he wanted to sit down to hear this. The man smiled slightly at the chairs appearance and sat down.

"You learn quickly, Dr. Jackson," he commented.

"I made those appear?" Daniel asked, touching the other unoccupied chair apprehensively. It felt 'real' enough.

"Reality is shaped by thoughts here." Daniel carefully took a seat.

"It's a dreamscape? We're within my mind?" Daniel hypothesized.

"This is our world. We exist within you and so this place exists within yourself." It was like talking to Oma Desala again, except Virgil almost made sense. But so help him god, if he started talking about tall men hiding in short grass…

"So we're inside me because you're inside me," Daniel clarified.

"Yes, you understand."

No, he really didn't. But from Daniel's past experience, he knew better than to admit it.

* * *

"Doctor Fraiser, I need the monthly medical supply order," a Lieutenant announced from the doorway of the lab.

"It's on my computer," Janet replied, glancing quickly up from her microscope. Five minutes later she looked up again and he was still there waiting.

"You want me to get it now, don't you?"

The Lieutenant nodded sharply, and Janet got up from the short, awkward lab stool. Her legs were getting cramped anyway (her brain too).

Janet tripped walking into her office (damn cord for the damn laptop!). She turned on the lights to be greeted with the lovely sight of a pile of unread files. Janet rubbed her eyes. Nope, the pile wasn't disappearing. Sighing at the backlog, she switched on her computer.

"It'll just be a few minutes, Lieutenant!" she shouted to the man outside her door.

Waiting for Windows XP to load, Janet glanced at the pile, and idly flipped through the reports: Medical Files, SG-4's Mission report (the medical SG team), inventory reports, a new study on a protein isolated from the Jaffa immune system…

Janet stopped flipping, and started reading the abstract of the study: "…Law-18, a protein uniquely produced by the Jaffa immune system, has been shown to mark mutated cells for degeneration by lymphocytes… has particular ramifications for cancer research…"

This was good. Really good. However, Janet restrained herself from getting too hopeful. The paper had the suspicious nature of sounding too good to be true. In fact it sounded precisely like the unmasking agent she'd been searching for as a solution to Daniel's infliction. Looking at the name of the scientist that wrote the paper, Janet picked up her phone and dialed the number for Area 51.

"I need to speak to Dr. Edward Milligan immediately. Tell him it's Dr. Janet Fraiser from the SGC." Janet crossed her fingers that her name alone would carry enough weight to talk to the scientist without delay.

The young Lieutenant poked his head into her office and she waved him off with her free hand, "Go and get a coffee. I'll have the order printed up for you as soon as I'm done with this call."

* * *

"Dr. Fraiser?" Janet looked up from the hurried notes she had been writing while on the phone with Dr. Milligan. They had talked for nearly an hour as he explained his research. In fact he had several samples in the SGC that she could examine 'at her convenience'. Janet now knew that she had the key to curing Daniel and she was overwhelmed with the adrenaline from the find.

The nurse rushed on with her news as soon as she knew she had Janet's attention, "Dr. Jackson's woken up."

* * *

"Daniel?" Janet voice was filled with relief as she approached her patient's bedside. Familiar blue eyes greeted her, but he had the strangest expression written on his face.

"Dr. Janet Fraiser," he said in an emotionless, silted tone.

Her face fell, and she immediately knew what had happened. Whoever was talking to her wasn't Daniel Jackson (God knew she'd seen it enough times).

Janet reacted instinctively. "Lieutenant!" she yelled, praying that the poor man was still waiting outside the infirmary. She rushed over to hit the large red panic button on the far wall, but she was too slow. The person that wasn't Daniel jumped off of his bed and grabbed her into a bear hug. Janet struggled. She was an Air Force Major, for god's sake! However, she was also only five foot two and whatever was controlling Daniel wasn't planning on letting her go. She was leverage.

* * *

TBC

(Dum! Dum! DUM!)


	7. Very UnDaniellike Behaviour

Author's Note: I wasn't planning on posting until Monday, but then I started to feel guilty because of all the great reviews (and cries of "evil" and some Jedi mind tricks...). So here is my Father's Day chapter seven. Of course, the betaing has been done wonderfully by Mara Jade Jedi.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Very Un-Daniel-like Behaviour 

"What are your biggest regrets, Dr. Jackson?"

Wasn't it human nature to dwell on the past? What if? Some regrets were so simple. Losing his parents. Losing Sha're. Being deceived by Osiris. Letting Sarah be taken as a host just like Sha're had.

Other regrets had been nagging at the back of his head for years. Whispers of cowardice. To his surprise, Janet came to mind (but was it really a surprise? Hadn't she been lingering there for a while now?).

He'd learnt a long time ago that the past couldn't be changed. You couldn't save those that were already dead. P7J 989 and the Gamekeeper sprung immediately to mind. However Daniel's thoughts were already out there, and the universe around the doctor shifted to accommodate them.

Daniel found himself outside of Janet Fraiser's house. He knocked on the front door instinctively. It was a strange feeling. He was disoriented, but at the same time he wasn't. He knew what he was doing, but at the same time he didn't.

"Daniel!" Janet answered the door. Her surprise at his visit was evident.

"Hi," Daniel replied automatically and he held up a bag, "I bring greasy takeout."

Janet's smile widened and she moved to usher her guest in. "I hope your doctor doesn't know about your diet, Daniel," she teased.

It was a memory. This had all happened before. It was from three years ago, right after the incident with Cassie and Nirrti. He'd been worried about Janet, so he'd gone over to her house to check up on her.

They cocooned themselves up in the living room, while Janet explained that Cassie was at a friend's house: "If you hadn't dropped by, I'd probably be doing the paranoid parent routine. Wondering if she's really at her friend's house, but knowing it wouldn't be 'cool' to call and check up on her…"

"Sounds like things are returning to normal."

"Too normal. I'm not positive, but I think I saw Dominic a few days ago walking her home from school."

"Want me to get rid of him for you? Jack, Teal'c and I could probably come up with something."

She laughed and Daniel felt like a million bucks. "Think I could get Teal'c to come over and glare at him? I think that would do it."

Copious amounts of wine were consumed (in that Daniel had a glass and was feeling tipsy). Off handedly, he wondered if his pride should be insulted that a 5"2, hundred-pound woman could drink him under the table.

They were sitting on her couch, laughing about Teal'c's recent hat purchases (a top hat, for special occasions). He had started telling her about his theory about how deep Teal'c really was… when she kissed him.

"Had to think of a way to shut you up," she explained. Daniel gawked for a bit. He watched as her cheeks went red, and wondered why an amazing woman like her would ever want to kiss him –in fact had kissed him.

He was just lucky, he realized that now. So he did what he should have done three years ago. He cupped her face, and whispered, "No more talking, I promise," just before his lips touched hers.

* * *

Meanwhile in the outside world, the klaxons had gone off. Daniel (who really wasn't Daniel) had prevented Janet from sounding the base alarm; however, Jenny, one of the nurses in the next room had been quick to react to the situation. 

Daniel used Janet as a shield. Holding her tightly against his chest, he watched emotionlessly as Special Forces lined up into the infirmary, M16s aimed to kill. Naturally, Colonel O'Neill was the first familiar face on the scene. "What the hell are you doing, Daniel!"

Whatever was controlling Daniel recognized the Colonel. "Jack," he replied, pulling Janet tighter (she squirmed in his grip).

Jack frowned at Daniel's very un-Daniel-like behaviour.

"Colonel, I think Daniel's being controlled by the alien organisms…" Janet spit out the words.

"Ya think?" Colonel O'Neill wasn't the most reassuring person in a hostage situation.

Sam and Teal'c managed to navigate around the SFs to the forefront to stand with the Colonel. Sam was met with the sight of her two friends in what could be considered an intimate embrace. "What's going on?" It wasn't an embrace, it was a brace gripe.

"Sam. Teal'c." Daniel acknowledged.

"It's controlling Daniel?" Sam looked to the Colonel for conformation. The movement of Jack's eyes and shoulders said, "What else did you expect?"

"We would like to go back to our planet; PX3 489 is what you call it," Daniel demanded. Sam didn't think that sounded too unreasonable.

"You going to take Daniel with you?" Jack asked.

"Yes."

"See that's where I have a problem with your plan." Not for the first time, Sam wondered if in negotiations they could lock the Colonel in a storage closet on base somewhere.

"Can you leave Daniel?" Sam asked, "We can send you home, but we're just concerned about what would happen to our friend."

"This host," There were few winces at that word choice, "is being integrated as we speak. It would be impossible to 'leave'."

Integrated? That didn't sound good.

"You're fully incorporated into Daniel's body?" Janet couldn't help being fascinated.

"Yes. We require the genetic diversity of this host. We must go back to our home," Daniel explained.

Comprehension dawned on Janet, who had been studying their species in depth for some time now. Like the Asgard, they didn't reproduce sexually. However, asexual reproduction had its drawbacks –they lacked genetic diversity. They needed Daniel's DNA to add to their own sparse gene pool.

"Not going to happen," Jack told the alien, "We're not going to let you take Daniel."

"The alternative is we will continue to inhabit this body, until it can sustain us no longer. Then we shall spread, moving on to inhabit your entire species." Janet froze as Daniel brought his face closer, his lips hovering over Janet's cheek, his body still pressed firmly against her. Janet was filled with mixed signals. She was frightened, but at the same time it was Daniel. It was almost an erotic position.

He whispered seductively in her ear, "Since the evolution of our species, we have never seen such a diversity of life." She shuddered slightly. Not enough for their audience to see, but Daniel certainly felt it.

He brushed his lips against her ear. Was it curious? Studying her reaction? Or was it taunting her? Janet felt anger at the latter possibility, and snapped out of her haze, struggling even harder. It wasn't Daniel, no matter what her body wanted her to think. Daniel sighed, and gripped his captive harder (she would have bruises).

"Give us access to the Stargate or Dr. Fraiser dies." Daniel made his ultimatum.

"Oh for crying out loud. This is ridiculous." Jack grabbed a spare zat gun from the medical emergency weapons locker (because you never knew when or where you'd need one), and fired a single shot. Both Daniel and Janet were stunned due to their close proximity, and fell to the ground in a tangle of legs and arms.

"Sorry Doc," Jack apologized to her unconscious form.

"Teal'c wanna give me a hand here?" asked Jack, and together they pulled Daniel onto the infirmary bed, making sure to strap down his arms and legs.

* * *

TBC 

(Reviewers get virtual gold stars...)


	8. Desperation of a Dying Species

Author's Note: Wow! I almost ran out of virtual gold stars to hand out... (oh my). The reviews and encouragement have been awesome, guys. Keep it up! And (as always) huge thanks to Mara Jade Jedi for the beta.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Desperation of a Dying Species

He cupped her face. "No more talking, I promise," he whispered just before his lips touched hers. It was wonderful. It was perfect. But, it wasn't what had happened.

Three years ago when Janet had kissed him, Daniel had freaked out. Adrenaline kicked in, sobering him quickly. He'd stuttered out some excuse about forgetting about something in his office, adding that he hoped to see Cassandra another time, and had launched out of her living room (and her house) as quickly as possible.

Daniel had justified his actions later. He didn't want to take advantage of her emotional state. That she didn't want him, she was looking for anyone who cared (and sarcastically he thought he had done a fabulous job in supporting her by running off like that). That they weren't 'couple material'. And they didn't think of each other in the romantic sense. They were only good friends.

It took a lot of brooding before Daniel could acknowledge the truth. The truth was that Daniel was scared. He was scared of getting hurt again.

It had happened three years ago, and they had never talked about it. The tension between them lasted months before normality was reestablished. Even then, the friendship still wasn't there. But after he ascended and came back again last year, things seemed to revert back to the pre-kiss comfort level –something that Daniel was immensely grateful for.

"No, no. This isn't right…" Daniel muttered, pulling away.

Janet frowned and stroked his face lightly, "It's what you've always wanted."

This universe was influenced by his thoughts. It wasn't really Janet looking lovelorn into his eyes –it was his own emotions projected onto her, reflected back at him. It wasn't real, and Daniel couldn't live with only a fantasy.

He repelled his body away from the tantalizing woman who was and wasn't Janet.

"Virgil!" he screamed to the ceiling, "I've had enough!"

"You can't go back. Not yet." The false-Janet was gone, and in her place was the unforgiving white and a disappointed Virgil.

"What do you mean 'not yet'?" Daniel's tone was harsh, his stance aggressive.

"It is not time. We have not accomplished our goal."

"What goals! What are you doing, Virgil!" Daniel grabbed the man by the arms. His grip should have hurt, but Virgil didn't show any discomfort. Daniel reasoned it was because this place wasn't real. They were in his head.

"Our species is dying, Daniel. We haven't been capable of genetic recombination for hundreds of your years."

Daniel wasn't a doctor –correction: a medical doctor (or a geneticist, biologist, biochemist, or any sort of scientist that would understand this stuff). So he asked what he thought was the obvious question, "What does that have to do with me?"

"We told you that your species is similar to what ours was before The Big Change, the last evolutionary step that stripped us of the ability to reproduce sexually. We hope that we will be able to solve this problem through your integration."

Daniel hadn't been there (he'd been "ascended" at the time) but he'd read reports that claimed the Asgard were in the same sort of situation. Idly, Daniel wondered if that was the fate of all "advanced species" –evolution eventually stripped their ability to survive. It was a contradiction he'd leave thinking about for another time.

Daniel sighed, "I sympathize. Really, Virgil. But keeping me here in this..." He paused, trying to recall what Virgil had earlier called it: "…Thought Universe isn't solving that. Integrating me won't solve it either. We need to work together. Let me go back, and I'll explain to my people what's going on. They're confused. They don't know what's happening to me. They need to understand." He was appealing to their humanity.

Unfortunately, they weren't human. They hadn't been human for a long time.

"They understand perfectly. We have already made our demands," Virgil countered.

"How…" Daniel began to mutter, but then memory flashed upon him. He had clutched Janet roughly in front of him as he had coldly told his teammates to give him access to the Stargate or he'd kill the woman he held.

They were controlling his movements while they had him trapped in the Thought Universe. He was in a prison of his own mind.

"You told me you were scientists, Virgil! Historians! Academics! I should have known better," Daniel accused, "You're conquerors. You're no better than the Goa'uld!"

* * *

Janet awoke with that familiar post "shot with a zat" feeling. Her vision was blurred, sprinkled with dark spots and her head felt like it'd been kicked a few times for good measure. She let out a groan to announce her presence to the conscious world. Dr. Warner seemed to pop up from nowhere –though Janet doubted he'd been hiding under her infirmary bed, waiting to scare her.

"Dr. Fraiser. You're awake." Dr. Warner had impeccable observational skills.

Janet tried to sit up, but dizziness kept her pinned down. "How long have I been out?"

"Twenty minutes. I don't think you should be getting up, Doctor."

Frankly, Janet didn't care what Dr. Warner thought. She pushed herself upright and looked over at the bed next to her where Daniel was still unconscious, his arms and legs bound with brown leather buckles.

"He was knocked out only for a few minutes from the blast –looks like you took the brunt of it. We had to sedate him. He should be out for a while."

Janet nodded, agreeing with his information. "I have to see the General," she told him.

Warner replied, "SG-1 is updating him right now in the briefing room." Janet figured as much.

Janet tentatively put her feet on the ground and stood up; her hand on the infirmary bed kept her balanced.

"Dr. Fraiser, I really must insist that you rest…" Janet's glare cut off his sentence immediately. She took a couple of steps and confident that she wasn't going to collapse, she let go of the bed and walked towards her office. Every step she took was echoed with a pounding in her head. After popping a couple of aspirin from a bottle she kept in her desk drawer, she grabbed her notes.

As she headed out the door to the briefing room, she called over her shoulder, "I want to know immediately when he wakes up, Dr. Warner." She didn't wait around to hear his reply.

* * *

They were discussing base security when Janet walked into the briefing room.

"Dr. Fraiser!" The General was surprised at the petite red-head's entrance. Dr. Warner had estimated she'd be unconscious for an hour at least.

"General," she acknowledged and quickly made eye contact with her three other friends.

"We were just discussing the incident." The General looked troubled and exhausted, Janet noted.

"Yes, sir. About that. I think I might have found a solution." With no further introduction, Janet went on to explain Law-18 and Dr. Milligan's research.

"So what you're saying," Sam summed up, "Is if Daniel is injected with Law-18 that it will help Daniel's immune system identify the alien cells?"

"And hopefully evoke an immune response to cause cell death." The implications were self evident.

"Okay, let's do it," Jack demanded. They'd figured out how to cure Daniel. Problem solved.

"Sir, remember we would practically be committing genocide," Sam argued, playing devil's advocate.

Jack didn't look at his second-in-command; instead, he looked to the General to decide.

"How long will it take for you to acquire this Law-18, Doctor?"

"We have some on base, sir."

"Proceed then," ordered the General, and anticipating the Major's objection he added, "It is a threat to this base, Major." It was all the justification that the General needed. It was all Jack and Teal'c needed too. However, it didn't sit right with Sam, and Janet had her reservations too. It was a hostile species, but did that justify annihilating them all? What was more important, a billion trillion microscopic lives or the life of a friend?

A sergeant interrupted the group with a message: "Sir, Daniel Jackson has regained consciousness."

* * *

TBC

(This space is reserved for the author to beg for reviews.)


	9. There is no virtue like necessity

Author's Note: And it looks like this fanfic is coming to an end. One more chapter to go! The reviews have been so encouraging. I couldn't have done it without your feedback, and (of course) my beta, Mara Jade Jedi.

* * *

Chapter Nine: "There is no virtue like necessity"

"I demand to see General Hammond," Daniel was snarling at a nurse when his teammates, Dr. Fraiser, and the man in question entered the infirmary.

"I don't like it when my people are threatened," Hammond replied, anger thickening his Texan accent.

"You will not stop us with these primitive devices." Daniel strained against the straps that held down his arms and legs.

Jack had decided in recent years that 'primitive' wasn't an insult: "Oh, I beg to differ."

"You have no choice. Give us access to the Stargate and we will spare the rest of you."

Jack glanced at his commander, asking for permission to lay on the "whammy". With General Hammond's nod, he attacked, "I think you're the one with the choice to make. You can leave Daniel and go home or we will kill you." It was a tone of voice that caused goose-bumps.

"You are bluffing. You have no way of killing us without killing your friend." But the organisms didn't seem so sure now. They were nervous.

"Are you willing to find out?" Jack threatened.

Janet expanded on the threat saying, "We have discovered a protein, Law-18, in the Jaffa immune system capable of identifying mutated cells for degeneration. You're similar to Daniel's cells, but you're not identical. Up until now you've been hiding from Daniel's immune system. We've figured out how to identify you." Janet's hypothesis rang true with the organisms controlling Daniel. They were scared.

"You wouldn't be able to kill all of us. We would adapt."

"Not before millions were killed," Sam pushed, "Leave Daniel and we'll allow you to return to your planet. Daniel knows we're telling the truth."

"Daniel is too valuable. We need him. His genetic code must be incorporated with our own. His genetic variation is worth the sacrifice of billions." Well, that they hadn't been counting on.

Jack didn't like what he was hearing and decided to take matters into his own hands. "You listen to me. Daniel is more important to us than you could ever imagine," he spat out the threat, rage colouring his words. "We're not going to let you just take him…"

But the Colonel was interrupted mid-rant with Janet's outburst of, "Genomic libraries!" She had an idea –an offer that they hopefully couldn't refuse.

"We have libraries… copies of entire genomes. We will give you a copy of these libraries if you leave Daniel."

The Colonel wasn't sure if he liked having the wind taken out of his sails like that, but it looked like the alien was considering the deal. He backed off, took a necessary breath, and listened to Janet's compromise.

Janet continued, "You said that you'd never seen such genetic diversity. We can give you the DNA of several species. You leave us in peace, and I don't get out my needles filled with Law-18."

The organisms spent a tension-filled minute considering the proposal (years in terms of a cell's life).

"Agreed," was their answer.

* * *

"We have come to an arrangement with your people, Daniel," Virgil announced.

His sudden appearance after days (or was it hours? minutes?) of sitting in the white jail was startling to say the least.

Sometimes, when Daniel didn't focus, he'd relive painful memories. He'd agonized over Sha're, Janet, Sarah, his parents, and getting caught cheating on a Grade Eleven Calculus Test –enough for a lifetime. He had remembered when Jack had been tortured by Ba'al and begged for him to kill him. It was an ascended memory that he'd lost –he'd never realized that his amnesia was really a blessing. Eventually he'd concentrate (with the mantra "This isn't real") and end up in the white abyss all over again.

"An agreement?" Daniel asked skeptically. He was hopeful, but at the same time still very much aware of how he'd been played by Virgil and his kind.

"Yes, we will be leaving you soon." Virgil seemed to hesitate with his next words, "We… I regret treating you in this manner. As one of your great playwrights said, 'Teach thy necessity to reason thus; there is no virtue like necessity.'"

"Shakespeare, Richard the Second," Daniel recognized (he'd hated that play).

However the quotation made Daniel consider that he could be wrong. Maybe the Ancestors did have a sort of individuality. Perhaps they had not sacrificed their humanity.

"Good-bye Daniel Jackson," was whispered in his ear.

* * *

Daniel opened his eyes to find himself on PX3 489, leaning over the puddle of goo that had started this mess. His teammates were in a semi-circle surrounding him.

"Daniel? You alright?" That was Sam's voice.

"Hi," he groaned, "Why am I here?" Teal'c was kind enough to help him up on his feet.

The dazed and confused expression was Daniel Jackson in a nutshell. "Good to have you back, Daniel." Jack gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and Daniel almost fell over.

"Are you ready to return to the infirmary, Daniel Jackson?" asked Teal'c.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

As they headed back to the gate, Jack commented, "I do believe that there is a moral to the story here, campers." This was met with two unamused glares and Teal'c typical nonchalant expression. But Teal'c really wanted to know –Jack could feel it in his gut.

"The moral of the story…" Did someone just let out a groan? "…is that we never, ever touch green pools of Jello. Got that Danny my boy?"

Daniel was getting really good at that withering look of his. Jack wondered if he was going to turn into one of those "silent revenge" type people. He also wondered if he should be worried.

After a few moments of silence, Daniel remarked, "I'm more important than a million billion alien organisms? I never knew how much you cared, Jack."

"Shut up, Daniel."

Minutes passed and then the Stargate was in sight. Teal'c dialed up the gate and Sam activated the GDO and together SG-1 entered the event horizon.

* * *

Daniel wasn't sure if getting a needle in the rear was a necessity or Janet Fraiser's vengeance.

"I'm injecting you with Law-18, just incase some of the organisms decided to hang around regardless," she explained, jabbing a second needle into the before mentioned spot.

However, as good a reason that sounded, Daniel was still positive about the vengeance theory. He didn't blame her. Hell, he deserved it. His memory was still muddled from the time when the organisms were controlling his body, but what he could remember was unsettling. He'd held her hostage and threatened to kill her. Daniel had the feeling he'd be doing a lot of brooding in the next few weeks.

"We're done, but I want you to stay on base tonight and report for a follow-up tomorrow," Janet concluded. Then she left in a hurry before Daniel had pulled on his pants.

Fully dressed, Daniel peeked outside the curtains to find a busy infirmary, but no Janet Fraiser. His good conscious couldn't put off talking to her. He had to apologize at least if he wanted to sleep tonight.

Sam, Teal'c and Jack had other ideas. His teammates bombarded him with questions as he began his beeline to Janet's office.

"Is Janet done with you, Daniel?"

"Has Dr. Fraiser finished her examination, Daniel Jackson?"

"Feel like some Jello, Daniel?"

Daniel replied, "Yes, yes and no."

"Great. Let's go to my house. I'll break out some cold ones and call Pizza Pizza," Jack suggested to his teammates.

Daniel feigned disappointment, "Janet's making me stay on base tonight, Jack, but don't cancel the party on my account."

"We'll have another one tomorrow," Jack decided.

Daniel smiled and shifted gears. "Oh, and by the way…" he began, and finished his sentence by hitting Jack on the head. Jack yelped in pain, or perhaps surprise, due to the light impact.

"What the hell, Daniel! I said we'd eat pizza tomorrow too!" moaned the Colonel, rubbing his head. Under her breath, Sam commented about Colonel O'Neill's 'healthy' eating habits to Teal'c.

"That's for shooting me. Again," Daniel explained, with a self-righteous smirk.

"You were threatening the base. Again! I had to do something!" Jack protested. While Jack continued rambling on about Daniel's world domination tendencies, Daniel ran Jack's earlier words through his head. He had threatened the base, but he had threatened Janet in particular. He had to go and see her.

"I'm going to go…" Daniel announced, cutting off Jack in the process. His eyes wandered to his target, Janet's office. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

His teammates said their goodbyes and turned to leave the infirmary. Just before Jack went through the door, he called over his shoulder, "Remember, Daniel, no Jello-touching!"

He just had to rub it in, didn't he?

* * *

"So guys," Jack said while walking down the hall with Sam and Teal'c, "it's Friday night. What are we doing?" Daniel might be MIA for the evening, but that didn't mean that they still couldn't do something. They just had to make sure they saved some beer for when Daniel could make an appearance.

Wordlessly, Sam handed Teal'c forty dollars (the twenty he'd earlier paid to her plus the twenty for the bet she'd lost). Jack idly wondered if she was trying to light the money on fire by glaring at it.

Teal'c answered with a satisfied smirk, "We are watching Star Wars, O'Neill."

Having reached the end of the concrete hallway, they waited for the elevator to arrive. Jack raised an eyebrow, impersonating the Jaffa's famous facial expression. "And it only gets better on the fourteenth viewing…" he drawled.

Sam looked like she didn't quite believe him.

"That's what Harriman claims," Jack explained, citing his source.

"Harriman?" Sam asked; her forehead creased with confusion.

"Walter Harriman," Jack clarified. Still seeing blank looks, the Colonel continued, "Sergeant who operates the dialing computer. Always counts down the chevrons…"

With this description, Sam realized who he was talking about, "That's weird. I always thought his last name was Davis."

Teal'c nodded his head in agreement, "His uniform bears the name Davis. Perhaps following the vows matrimony, he changed his last name as is your custom?"

Sam snickered lightly, and the Colonel looked at his alien friend in disbelief. It had been a long time since Teal'c had made such a cultural faux pas that sometimes he forgot the good ol' times.

"Teal'c, only the woman changes…" Jack caught himself before he finished his sentence. Teal'c had that tiny Jaffa-esqe smirk on his face. Damn, those Jaffa jokes were getting high end.

The Colonel complemented Teal'c on his delivery and soon afterwards the elevator doors slid open. The threesome entered, looking forward to an evening with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

* * *

TBC

(Please feed the author -with feedback. Virtual cookies would be awesome too.)


	10. Epilogue

Author's Note: It's a whole month since I started posting "An Evolutionary Gap" and now it's complete. Funny how I'm both sad and happy to be finished writing this fanfic -the first multichapter fic I have written in years (wow, was "I was Reminded" really 2 years ago?). Mara Jade Jedi: I know that I've thanked you every chapter for the beta editing, but I can't really say it enough. Thank you for all your support, red ink, and DESCRIPTION (hehe). Also, thank you to everyone who wrote a review (I'm sorry I can't list you all here!), who's encouragement (and cookies) have been amazing. So, now it's happy ending time...

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Epilogue

Daniel had gotten to his destination: Janet's office. All he had to do was go in. Well, knock first and then go in; however, the knocking was proving difficult. For some reason, Daniel's stomach was tied in knots. He was tempted to wipe his hands against his pants to get rid of invisible sweat. His anxiety was ridiculous; this was Janet! And that's precisely the problem, the more rational side of Daniel argued. Daniel called upon the confidence he had used in the past to sacrifice his life for an entire civilization... and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Janet called out in response. Daniel tried to look casual as he stepped into her office.

"Hi," he greeted. Janet was examining her bookshelf. It was similar to the one he had in his own office, except hers was filled with Medical jargon that he would never be able to translate.

"Daniel?" she looked surprised at his presence, "Are you alright? Are you experiencing any new symptoms…?" He didn't have the chance to reassure her before she was next to him checking his pulse. It probably didn't help that her close proximity was causing his heart to race.

"No, no. Nothing like that." His words calmed the doctor down. As if she suddenly realized she was invading his personal space, she took a step back and comfortably learned against her desk.

"Oh, good." She buried her concern and asked, "Then what can I do for you, Dr. Jackson?" A name that was supposed to signify respect had never irritated Daniel so much.

"I just came to apologize. I don't know exactly what happened when the Vorfahren were controlling me, but what I can remember…" Daniel shuddered at the fragmented memories he could recall.

"Apology accepted. Now you should be resting, Daniel." He was relieved at her forgiveness, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being pushed away. She was giving him an out by preventing the conversation from becoming more intimate than one that could occur between a doctor and her patient. Hadn't the Thought Universe taught him that this was the last thing that he wanted? The scarier question was: did she still feel the same?

"Janet..." He had to find out. Years ago, his main argument was that he didn't want to possibly sacrifice their friendship. At this rate, he was worried that they almost didn't have a relationship to lose.

He closed the space between them and grabbed hold of her wrist, echoing a demonstration of friendship he'd offered three years ago. What he wasn't expecting was Janet's pained reaction. Feeling her wince upon contact, Daniel let go immediately.

"What happened?" His voice was soft, laced with concern.

"It's nothing, Daniel."

It wasn't 'nothing'. With a flash of insight, he recalled squeezing her struggling body against his own, and making those bruises that currently adorned her wrists. The realization was written all over Daniel's face.

"I'm so sorry, Janet." His voice was barely above a whisper. Janet nodded her head and gave him a small smile meant to be reassuring. How could see keep looking at him like that –like she cared for him? Even after what he'd done to her?

"I should go…" Daniel turned to make his exit. He'd come to visit Janet too soon. He needed to think (correction: brood) for a bit. He also wanted a strong drink, possibly vodka –a really bad sign: he hadn't wanted to drink heavily since Sha're had died.

However, Daniel didn't make it through the door. Janet's silent protest stopped him. He felt a hand on his shoulder; he didn't realize she was so close behind him. When he turned to face her, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him. After being stunned for a brief moment, Daniel reciprocated the embrace, his arms hooking around Janet's back.

Janet's voice was muffled against Daniel's shirt: "It wasn't you, Daniel. I know it wasn't you."

* * *

Sam watched two of her closest friends walk into the commissary together. Daniel was ushering the petit doctor into the room, his hand gently resting on the small of her back. She watched them order their lunch with a reflective expression on her face. There was something there that was different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was it the constant invasion of personal space between the two? Janet's blush when Daniel teased her about something while they were waiting in line? What was going on between Daniel Jackson and Janet Fraiser?

Unconsciously, Sam grinned at the sight of the two "lovebirds". Her expression didn't go unnoticed by her companions.

"Feel like sharing with the rest of the class?" the Colonel drawled. Sam had figured out the answer to her own question: the air between Daniel and Janet was no longer tense with professionalism. Sam gave her commanding officer a shrug; she would be the one to recognize it.

Teal'c had been following Sam's line of sight and commented, "You were looking at Doctor Fraiser and Daniel Jackson." He always was the observant one.

"They're here?" asked the Colonel, and twisted around to search for them. "Daniel! Fraiser!" Jack yelled over the noise of the commissary, waving them over. Daniel and Janet nodded in acknowledgement and continued waiting in line for their food.

"Does something seem different between the two of them?" Sam ventured.

"They both look the same to me," the Colonel commented.

Sam's question inspired the three friends to watch the oblivious doctor and archeologist. Janet was laughing at something Daniel had said, touching his arm lightly, and he looked a little flustered. They were standing just a little too close.

"Are they…" Jack's sentence stalled. However, he didn't have to say anything more. Sam and Teal'c knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yep," Sam answered.

"Indeed."

Jack's grin was almost sinister. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Sam wondered if her two friends were ready for the teasing that the Colonel apparently had in store.

Moments later, Daniel and Janet joined the group and together they enjoyed a peaceful lunch. That is until Janet was called down to the infirmary (Siler had broken his arm). Then Sam was called down to the labs to assist with finding an alien device that had mysteriously disappeared. Minutes later the klaxons sounded and Daniel, Jack and Teal'c left to report to the Gate Room. Life at the SGC went on as usual.

* * *

The End

(It's been a blast, guys! Thanks for reading.)


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